Top 32 Feature Match: Chris Duff vs. Agustin Herrera

June 20th, 2010

Chris Duff is running a Herald of Perfection Deck that plays Dawn of the Herald instead of Advanced Ritual Art. His opponent, Agustin Herrera, is running X-Sabers. This can be a tough Match for Duff if Herrera manages to discard his hand throughout the Match using X-Saber Airbellum and XX-Saber Gottoms, but an early Summon of Herald of Perfection or Archlord Kristya can mean victory for Duff.

Duff won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with Senju of the Thousand Hands, Arcana Force 0 – The Fool, Nova Summoner, Honest, Herald of Green Light, and Skelengel. He Summoned Senju and used its effect to add a Herald of Perfection from his Deck to his hand before ending passing to Herrera.

Herrera Normal Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn. He activated its effect to Special Summon XX-Saber Darksoul from his hand in Defense Position. Boggart Knight attacked over Senju and Duff lost 500 Life Points. Herrera Set a card to his back row before ending his turn.

Duff drew Archlord Kristya next turn, not yet able to Summon it. He Set Skelengel and passed.

Herrera attacked the face-down Skelengel with Boggart Knight. Duff drew Dawn of the Herald with Skelengel’s effect. Herrera Set a monster and ended his turn.

Duff drew another Skelengel next turn. Then he activated Dawn of the Herald, but Herrera flipped Royal Oppression and paid 800 Life Points to negate it. Duff Set Arcana Force 0 – The Fool and ended his turn instead.

Herrera Summoned XX-Saber Emmersblade next turn. He attacked Duff’s face-down monster with Boggart Knight, but it was The Fool, which couldn’t be destroyed in battle. Herrera Set a card to his back row in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.

Duff drew Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands next turn. Then he Set Skelengel and passed.

Duff drew Brain Control next turn. He Summoned Dimensional Alchemist and activated its effect to remove Senju of the Thousand Hands from the top of his Deck and boost the Alchemist to 1800 ATK. Then he used his Alchemist to declare an attack against Fulhelmknight, but Herrera used the effect of Fulhelmknight to negate it. Duff Set Brain Control in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.

Herrera activated Cold Wave next turn, but Duff discarded Nova Summoner and Herald of Green Light to negate it with the effect of Herald of Green Light! Herrera Tuned Darksoul to Fulhelmknight anyway and Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Hyunlei. Duff paid 800 Life Points to try to negate the Summon, but Herrera Chained Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his own Royal Oppression. Hyunlei hit the field and destroyed Duff’s Set Brain Control. Herrera Normal Summoned Fulhelmknight next and attacked with Emmersblade into Dimensional Alchemist. Dimensional Alchemist was destroyed and Duff returned a Senju from the removed-from-play pile thanks to his Alchemist’s effect. Herrera Special Summoned Darksoul with Emmersblade’s effect. Then he Tuned Fulhelmknight to Hyunlei in order to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms and Tributed all of his monsters, including Gottoms itself, to discard every card in Duff’s hand except for 1 Herald of Perfection. In the End Phase, Herrera searched his Deck for X-Saber Pashuul, XX-Saber Boggart Knight, and XX-Saber Faultroll and added them to his hand thanks to the effects of his Darksouls.

Duff drew Herald of Orange Light next turn and passed.

Herrera Summoned Boggart Knight, activated its effect to Special Summon X-Saber Pashuul in Defense Position, and then Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll. He activated the effect of Faultroll to Special Summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight from his Graveyard and then ended his turn.

Duff drew Manju next turn and Herrera lost 1000 Life Points in Duff’s Standby Phase due to the effect of his Pashuul. Duff ended his turn.

Herrera activated the effect of XX-Saber Faultroll next turn and tried to Special Summon Darksoul, but Duff discarded Herald of Orange Light and Herald of Perfection to negate its effect and destroy Faultroll. Herrera just couldn’t get past The Fool. He Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and ended his turn.

Duff drew another Herald of Perfection next turn, and Herrera lost another 1000 Life Points in the Standby Phase. Duff ended his turn.

Herrera Tuned X-Saber Pashuul with Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn, in order to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and discarded Gold Sarcophagus to bounce The Fool with Brionac’s effect. Then he Normal Summoned Rescue Cat and Tributed it to Special Summon 2 copies of X-Saber Airbellum from his Deck. Both copies of Airbellum, Fulhelmknight, Brionac, and Boggart Knight all attacked directly, taking Duff’s remaining 6700 Life Points.

Chris Duff will be going first in Duel 2!

Duff opened up with Honest, Dimensional Alchemist, Archlord Kristya, Skelengel, Soul of Purity and Light, and Senju of the Thousand Hands. He Summoned Senju and activated its effect to add Herald of Perfection from his Deck to his hand. He ended his turn.

Herrera activated Cold Wave next turn and Set a monster before passing back to Duff.

Duff drew Pot of Avarice next turn. Then, Duff used his Senju to attack and destroy Herrera’s Set Darksoul, triggering its effect. Duff Set a monster before entering his End Phase. In the End Phase, Herrera searched his Deck for Boggart Knight and added it to his hand thanks to Darksoul’s effect.

Herrera Normal Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn and activated its effect to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum from his hand. Then he Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll. He Tuned X-Saber Airbellum to Boggart Knight in order to Synchro Summon X-Saber Urbellum and then activated Faultroll’s effect to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum from the Graveyard. Next, he activated Mind Control to take control of Duff’s face-down Skelengel! He flipped it up and drew a card with its effect. He activated Brain Control next, taking control of Duff’s Senju before entering his Battle Phase. Herrera attacked with Airbellum first, forcing Duff to discard Soul of Purity and Light from his hand. Then Urbellum attacked, sending a card in Duff’s hand to the top of his Deck. Skelengel, Senju, and Faultroll attacked next, dropping Duff to just 400 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Herrera Tuned Manju, Skelengel, and X-Saber Airbellum together to Synchro Summon Mist Wurm. He Set a back row and ended his turn.

Next turn, Duff drew the Archlord Kristya that Urbellum put back on top of his Deck. He Summoned Dimensional Alchemist and removed Herald of Orange Light from the Top of his Deck to pump it to 1800 ATK. Then he attacked XX-Saber Faultroll and dropped Honest from his hand to boost his Alchemist’s attack and destroy the Faultroll in battle. With exactly 4 Fairies in his Graveyard, he tried to Special Summon Archlord Kristya, but Herrera flipped Saber Hole to negate the Summon! Then, Duff had 5 monsters in his Graveyard so he was able to activate Pot of Avarice by sending them all back to his Deck. He drew Dawn of the Herald and Call of the Haunted, adding them to the Herald of Perfection he already had in his hand. He Set what he could and ended his turn, knowing it would make no difference.

Herrera used Mist Wurm to attack over Dimensional Alchemist next turn and end the Duel and the Match, knocking Chris Duff out of the tournament.

In a 2-0 sweep, Agustin Herrera’s X-Sabers defeat Chris Duff’s Herald of Perfection Deck and Agustin Herrera advances to the Top 16!

Post-Event Analysis!See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.

Jason Grabher-Meyer(The Old Man of Dueling)In the second Duel when Duff was under Cold Wave, he attacked Herrera’s face-down XX-Saber Darksoul with Senju. With nothing in his back row, Duff should’ve first considered what that face-down monster could’ve been: it was likely XX-SaberEmmersblade, X-Saber Pashuul, or XX-Saber Darksoul. If he attacked Emmersblade, Herrera would be sure to Summon something that could attack over Senju. An attack against Pashuul would’ve been useless, since it can’t be destroyed in battle. If the monster was Darksoul, Duff would be in big trouble, and that’s exactly what happened. Not attacking at all would’ve been the best move.

Michael Kohanim(2009 World Championship Competitor)In Duel 1, Duff used Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier to get past Herrera’s Arcana Force 0 – The Fool. Brionac can be one of the strongest cards in an X-Saber Deck, even though it isn’t an X-Saber, since it can break through stalemates and end a Duel in a single turn. X-Saber Decks can easily Synchro Summon Level 6 monsters, too. If you’re running an X-Saber Deck, look out for situations in which you can Synchro Summon Brionac to win a Duel or put pressure on your opponent by returning cards to his hand.

P.J. Tierney(Duelist from across The Pond)Mystical Space Typhoon is one of those cards that can be used in many elaborate ways. In Duel 1, Herrera was able to snatch 800 of Duff’s Life Points by making him use Herrera’s Royal Oppression. Herrera then Chained Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his own Oppression and keep his monster.